John Colton (screenwriter)
Encyclopedia
John Colton was a prolific American playwright and screenwriter. He spent the first 14 years of his life in Japan
where his English father was a diplomat. After returning to the US he soon worked for a Minneapolis newspaper. He is best remembered for adapting Somerset Maughan's novel Rain into a 1922 smash hit play starring Jeanne Eagels
. He also made a play out Shanghai Gesture in 1926 as well as the spinoff from Rain called Sadie Thompson.The majority of the types of stories he excelled at were plays dealing with Americans in far lands just like young Colton spent his early youth in Japan. With these huge successes Colton was lured to Hollywood, primarily MGM, where he wrote intertitles
for some silent films and scenarios for others. In the talking film era he wrote numerous screenplays.
Colton was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1887. Suffered a stroke in 1945. He died of a second stroke in Gainesville, Texas in 1946. Colton was allegedly homosexual.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
where his English father was a diplomat. After returning to the US he soon worked for a Minneapolis newspaper. He is best remembered for adapting Somerset Maughan's novel Rain into a 1922 smash hit play starring Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels was an American actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. She was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films....
. He also made a play out Shanghai Gesture in 1926 as well as the spinoff from Rain called Sadie Thompson.The majority of the types of stories he excelled at were plays dealing with Americans in far lands just like young Colton spent his early youth in Japan. With these huge successes Colton was lured to Hollywood, primarily MGM, where he wrote intertitles
Intertitle
In motion pictures, an intertitle is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action, at various points, generally to convey character dialogue, or descriptive narrative material related to, but not necessarily covered by, the material photographed.Intertitles...
for some silent films and scenarios for others. In the talking film era he wrote numerous screenplays.
Colton was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1887. Suffered a stroke in 1945. He died of a second stroke in Gainesville, Texas in 1946. Colton was allegedly homosexual.
External Links
- John Colton at IMDb.com
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